Brussels, 04/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Confident that the Turkish authorities will respect the last criteria of the roadmap, by the end of June, in order to benefit from a visa exemption for their citizens, the College of Commissioners proposed to the Council of the EU and to the European Parliament on Wednesday 4 May that the regime requiring visas for Turkish citizens be abolished.
This proposal is accompanied by a report on the progress to be made by Ankara on implementing the requirements of this roadmap.
Setting the conditions that Turkey must fulfil to enable the Commission to propose to the Parliament and Council an amendment to the regulation (539/2001) that would exempt Turkish nationals from the requirement of a visa for a short stay (three months), the roadmap containing 72 criteria is on the verge of being completely implemented by Ankara, which must now just implement five criteria. European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said that “Turkey has made remarkable progress (…) as regards respect of the criteria”. Although Turkey still has work to do, Timmermans adds that “if the progress continues [Turkey] will be able to satisfy the remaining reference criteria”. The Commission therefore presented a proposal on Wednesday 4 May that “will enable the European Parliament and member states to decide to abolish the visa requirements when Turkey fulfils all the reference criteria”, Timmermans adds.
These five remaining criteria are related to the fight against corruption, data protection, judicial cooperation and with all the member states, the strengthening of cooperation with Europol, and lastly, the review of legislation and practice on the fight against terrorism. In the view of European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, “Turkey is determined to keep its commitments as soon as possible (…) It goes without saying that the Commission will continue to monitor the constant respect of these criteria”.
In the view of European Parliament Vice-President Alexander Lambsdorff (ALDE, German), “it is dishonest of the Commission to suggest that Turkey responds to the 72 criteria (…) in particular as regards the right to a fair trial and to the freedom of expression, when this is in striking contrast with the last progress report”.
Other than these five criteria, it appears that in certain cases the accelerated implementation of the roadmap has resulted in the impossibility thus far of fulfilling certain criteria such as the full deployment of biometric passports and assessment of the implementation of the readmission agreement between the EU and Turkey. The European Commission is encouraging the Turkish authorities to step up their efforts to respect all the requirements and thus enable liberalisation of the visa regime by the end of June.
To support the visa free regime, the Commission has proposed strengthening the suspension mechanism so it is easier for member states to notify the circumstances enabling the mechanism to be activated. The Commission will thus be able to active the mechanism on its own initiative. This clause would be implemented more easily in cases of abuse by the nationals of these countries or if the conditions of this visa free regime were no longer fulfilled (see EUROPE 11544).
The Commission adds that the visa liberalisation regime is not an uncontrolled entry system into the EU. It provides just for people who have new biometric passports (with digital fingerprints in the chip) to be able to enter the Schengen area. According to a European source, “the Turks are working on the update and improvement of biometric passports with regard to the latest European standards”.
Responding to the news that the Commission would reportedly give a conditional green light to the end of visas for Turks visiting the Schengen area, and being called to adopt the Commission's proposal in June, European Parliament ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt said he supported this visa liberalisation on condition that “all the requirements are fulfilled”. He said he was particularly concerned about Turkish legislation against terrorism which is “used to gag Turkish journalists who criticise Recep Tayyip Erdogan”. He added that as long as this continues, “the European Parliament should not back this visa liberalisation proposal”. The spokesperson for the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament, Bodil Valero, said that “visa liberalisation should not be used as a bargaining chip”. “This visa liberalisation would be seen as a victory for the Erdogan regime, and by default the EU will be seen as enriching the worrying Turkish political direction”, she added. The ECR Group shares this point of view. (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion)